


Like No Other Man

by RAAMIsABeast



Series: Short Story Collection [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Anxiety, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Malnutrition, POV Third Person, Pining, Poverty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 19:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15758088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RAAMIsABeast/pseuds/RAAMIsABeast
Summary: Mason had taken two of the cookies to work with him, to slip into the coat or car of his work partner. Or maybe, if he was feeling really courageous, hand them over in person.He felt that maybe today, he would be brave enough to do it. It was just giving out a pair of cookies after all. Nothing like a kiss or even (dare he say it, dare he even think it) some body touching. Some gentle caresses.





	Like No Other Man

**Author's Note:**

> Julian belongs to gaysketchingkid (Instagram)/ZolaTheBat (Archive Of Our Own)
> 
> Implied/Referenced Self Harm tag refers to character drawing blood using their nails during a moment of severe anxiety

Yawning with a stretch of his arms over his head, the lad listened to his siblings rummage around their shared bedroom for their school uniform. Judging from the bumps and uncoordinated steps, either the light had gone or the landlord had taken off their electricity until the rent was paid for. He sighed, tracking thin fingers through his hair to try and get it to look like he had just woken up, not stared at the ceiling in a daze of sorts.

Well... Not just any daze. No normal daze painted a face with heat and redness, increasing in intensity the longer the daze occurred.

For the daze to infect this young man was not a daze about a better life or an imaginary world, but a daze about another man.

A slightly older man, though the lad wasn't sure _how_ much older the man was. Maybe 3 or 4 years? But it didn't matter. Age didn't really matter to the lad. Because-

"Morning, Mason. I think the electricity has gone again."

Jumping from his slumped position to a sitting position, gasping in surprise, Mason stared at his younger sister as she giggled at his reaction.

"Sleeping?"

"Y-yeah. I was... Sleeping..."

"Well, me and Luka are ready for school, but where did you put the new pens?"

The question startled the lad into standing and rushing to the small pair of cupboards in the kitchen. One held tins and long lasting food while the other contained their tiny collection of pots and it was usually where Mason placed things needed for school, or the month's rent.

He also had a small box of 8 chocolate chip cookies in there, made last night using ingredients Luka had bought himself from helping a neighbour weed their garden. He pulled 4 of the 8 out, passing 2 to each sibling as a treat to join their simple lunch.

Luka looked just like their dad, lanky not just from genetics, with a mop of darkish brown hair and a surprisingly well cut fringe. The neighbours wife did that, and kept Meghan's hair as tidy as their garden. Gentle, dark blue eyes observed anything and everything, soaking up information like a sponge. But he was painfully shy and relied fully on his older sister for any sort of support.

His sister had more of her mother's features than her father's, including beautiful green-blue eyes and long, thick hair. Like her younger brother's, her hair was a darkish brown, though a little more on the dark side than Luka.

Mason, on the other hand, had grown to look most like his father. The only real feature of his mother he carried was his hair, thick and with a slight natural curl. He kept it short, more so because it suited him and it was the safest he could make it without going bald.

His blue eyes sparkled as the siblings finished their breakfast and gave him a hug goodbye.

"Bye, big bro!"

They called, opening the lockless front door.

"I'm working... today... So I'll... leave something... for you to... eat..."

They nodded and smiled.

\---

Mason had taken two of the cookies to work with him, to slip into the coat or car of his work partner. Or maybe, if he was feeling really courageous, hand them over in person.

He felt that maybe today, he would be brave enough to do it. It was just giving out a pair of cookies after all. Nothing like a kiss or even (dare he say it, dare he even think it) some body touching. Some gentle caresses.

' _Oh_ _God_ _, stop_ _thinking_ _about_ _him_ _._ _He's_ _surely_ _not_ _interested_ _in an ugly boy_ _like_ _me..._ '

All Mason was doing was getting himself flustered, and the other man was starting to notice. He stopped his tightening of the harness around the empty cage to glance over at Mason.

"Are you ok, Mason?"

Blue eyes widened and the lad jumped, one hand clasping around his wrist and stabbing into the skin with his pointer finger's nail. Little spots of blood welled, not noticeable in the dimness of the truck's insides.

"Y-yeah... I... I am, Julian... Do... you want..."

The lad didn't finish his sentence, taking the cookies from his pocket and shoving them at Julian. When the ginger man didn't take them straight away, Mason couldn't help but drop them, jumping out of the back of the truck and hiding childishly in the front of it.

Jumping when the drivers side door popped open, Mason barely managed to keep from quaking in his seat, glancing up fugitively, waiting for any movement on the other man's part.

"You baked cookies? For me?"

So gentle, was Julian's voice. As if talking to someone who could bolt at any minute. Which was true. Mason was on a hair trigger. One wrong move - by accident; how was Julian to know what would frighten his work partner? - and the lad would be gone.

"Spares..."

That wasn't entirely true. They could have been used for the kids to have a pair of cookies tomorrow as well.

"Oh. Well... Thank you, Mason."

Another glance and Mason was overwhelmed by the pleasently surprised happiness on the older man's face. If there was one thing Mason would wish for, it would be to live with, to lay with, to maybe even kiss and do things in the night with this man right here. With Julian.

Under his breath Mason murmured, caught in the moment, hooked so thoroughly on this one moment.

"You're like... no other man..."


End file.
